Changes
by innamorato
Summary: Normal cliched sounding Hermione finds out she's adopted, switches schools and makes new friends... BZHG


Chapter 1

The Means

"No!" She said trying to be strong.

"But Darla-" Her lover insisted.

"I said there isn't another choice." She had already forseen.

"There is! There always is!" It would end disasterously.

"Not anymore... I already didi it." It was already bad enough.

He looked at her with hate filled eyes

_How could she!_

_How could I!_

But it was already done, and hopefully it would turn out well.

CRACK!

Five figures appeared in the room. They wore cloaks to hide their identity, but no matter, the couple knew who was hiding underneath them.

They were surrounded.

_I love you!_

_I love you!_

Wands were out, and in no time the room filled with shouts, then exploded with green light.

_The Beginning  
_

Hermione sat on the swings at the playground and swayed. She was soaked, since it pouring, but she didn't go home.

She didn't have a home.

"C'mon sis-"

She ran up from the basement pushing past his three friends that stood in the doorway. He ran after her.

"Hermione!" But she was out the door and running down the street.

A week before she had found a picture while she was cleaning the attic. It was of an adorably cute baby with big blue eyes and ebony black hair. She accidentally dropped it, and it fell backside up. Picking it up to put it away, she saw writing on it.

_When the time's right, give her our love. _

_She's our darling Hermione, please don't rename her._

_Her true look is hidden, but on her seventeenth birthday the charm holding it back will vanish._

_Treat her like your own._

The days crawled by after she had discovered the little secret. She flinched when her _parents _kissed her, or when her _brother_ hugged her or called her 'sis'. Eventually she had to get away from it, and it just happened to be when her _brother _had called her his sister, after she'd had a terrible argument with said family member.

_Will the ends ever justify the means?_

She heard sirens in the night. They were getting louder. Half-freaked out she jumped up and hid behing the slide. She saw them looking around as they passed by. They were headign towards the Granger residence.

They had to be, since it was the only house at the end of Ashbrook Street.

Gathering her will power, she took off running after them.

When nearing her old home she gathered speed- but stopped short the moment she saw her old house. It had been burn to the ground, with smoke above it shaped like a skull... with a snake slithering from its mouth...

Hermione Gra-

Hermine was left all alone in Muggle London without anywhere to go.

Stranded and underaged.

After the cops had left, she walked up to the house to see if there was anything recognizeable left.

Nothing.

Hoplessly she sat down at the edge of the sidewalk.

Picking up a stick from the ground she started fidling with it, then lost interest and drooped her hand across her legs, the stick pointing out infront of her.

There was a circular bright light that flashed before her... two! The cops were coming back and she would be blamed for the mess, and end up in jail!

As the vehicle pulled up, she stood expecting the worst.

The door burst open...

---------------------------------------------------------------

Cliffie! JK I couldn't stop here or else it would'h'v bee too short...

Chapter 2

Savior

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I'll be your conductor this evening." Said Stan who was wearing a purple uniform, and was reading off his card.

Of course! The Knight Bus!

But wait! You need a wand...

Glancing down at the stick in her hand, Hermione realized that it was her wand!

"Can you take me to the Burrow?" Hermione asked, as she reached into her jeans and pulled out nine sickles with a frown, "Will this be enough?"

Stan looked at her for a second, as if he was going to refuse her, but then slowly nodded and said, " but we'll only take you up to the beginning of the driveway."

Smiling to herself, Hermione took a seat on one of the sliding beds and fell asleep, only to be woken by Stan yelling "'Ere we are!"

Jumping off the Knight Bus, she ran up to the Burrow with a newfound energy.

She reached for the door to open it, but pulled back. What if the Weasleys didn't want to take her in? What if they weren't here but at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place? Plus it was the middle of the night! No one would want a visitor at that time of night. Even if they were close friends... but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Making up her mind, Hermione knocked softly.

No one came.

But as she was to knock again the door swung open, and she was staring straight at a wand point.

"It's me Hermione!" She cried softly and pleadingly. Lucky for her the wand was withdrawn.

"Hermione? What are you doing here at... at 2:18?" A Weasley asked as he held the door open for her, inviting her in.

As she walked into the kitchen, it felt cold. Shivering she pulled her coat tightly against herself as she looked at her host.

"Oh Charlie!" She sobbed after recognizing which Weasley boy it was.

"I just had the worst day in my life- other than last Monday," she shuddered. That was a day she would never forget. The day she had found out she was adopted.

At this point, Hermione had no control over her emotions anymore. She broke down crying quietly, so she wouldn't wake anyone.

She had lost her chance to truly thank her adoptive parents and brother for treating her like she was their own. She was terrible!

Charlie looked down at the sobbing girl, and embraced her in a comforting brotherly hug. She cried on his shoulder until she fell asleep. He put her on the couch and brought a blanket to cover her up with, and then he went to sleep upstairs.

And that's how she was found next morning...

-------

Still too short

Chapter 3

Lies, Half Truths, and Secrets Meant to be Kept

Hermione woke to voices whispering around her. Ahh! Dave's hott guy friends had slept over. Squinting an eye open, she was deeply disappointed. In their place were three red haired boys, a red haired girl, and a black haired boy.

Sitting up suddenly, the blood rushed to her head. It hadn't been a nightmare! It was true!

"Step back children! You're suffocating the poor girl!" Said the shrill voice of Mrs. Weasley.

"Now dear, are you all right? You gave Charlie quite the scare last night!"

Hermione peered up at the older boy with an apologetic face, but he waved it off.

Finding her voice she slowly started her story. Well... not exactly.

"Sorry I scared you all, I j... just had a fight with my p... p... parents. So I ran away. Don't worry, I left a note, so they know I'm all right."

"How come you don't have any of you stuff then?" Ron asked.

_The day you want Ron to be himself, and not notice anything... HE DOES! Argh!_

"Uhm... Oh, I think I left it on the Knight Bus..."

Thankfully everybody bought it.

"That's wonderful! Now you'll never get it back, just like when Bill left his coat on it... have to go shopping... kids..." Mrs. Weasley went off mumbling, but as she got to the part about Bill, he threw her a wink.

Hermione stood up ad shakily walked after Mrs. Weasley, "Could I stay at the Burrow, until school starts? Please?" She asked the mother of seven kids.

"Oh darling! You don't even have to ask! Make yourself at home in Ginny's room."

Smiling, Hermione gratefully walked upstairs, lay down in Ginny's spare bed, and promptly fell asleep.

----

And still too shorrrttttt

Chapter 4

Garden of Eleanor vs. Knights of Merlin

Everyone knew that after Hogwarts burned down it would be rebuilt someday, but even magic isn't that fast.

"What did you tell her Ron?!" Harry accused the red head with a menacing glare.

"Nothing. Honest!" He added after Harry shot him a disbelieving look.

"I hardly doubt 'nothing' would send her running into her room and locking herself in!"

"Well I did mention that since Hogwarts burned down..."

"Ron!" Ginny groaned from the doorway.

"How can you be so daft! Something big is troubling 'Mione already, and you had to just go and upset her even more! And now I can't even get in there to get my broom! I tell you what! You go fix it right now! Apologize! And get my door OPEN!" She screamed at him, and stormed down the stairs leaving the two boys looking at the wooden door.

"Ginny! Ginny! Did you see that?!" Ron shouted across the crowd.

The girl stood staring in awe at the giant bird-looking piece of metal.

"What is it called again? A Row-Pine?" Mr. Weasley asked Harry with a speculating look of interest."

"An airplane, it transports muggles in the air..."

"Is that s-safe?" Said Ron with an audible gulp.

"Honestly! It's perfectly safe! They are able to climb and maintain altitude by utilizing a combination of the Bernoulli effect and simple momentum transfer in the airflow to generate lift. Lift is generated primarily by the wing of the aircraft- ( We get it! Really we do! Hey, look at that hot guy there!" Ginny said suddenly changing the subject.

Hermione carefully looked over her shoulder and saw who Ginny was talking about. Her jaw dropped. Whipping her head, she quickly gathered her bag, "let's go, the plane will leave without us!" And she gave her ticket to the lady, and disappeared down the tunnel.

"I thought she said it was called an airplane..." Mr. Weasley mumbled as he said goodbye to his kids.

On the plane Hermione turned to Ginny, who was sitting next to her.

"I'm so excited that they built two new schools- one for the boys and the other for the girls! And they're close by too! Just a walk across the courtyard!" Hermione bubbled excitedly.

The plane trip to America was fun-filled. The girls met many other students, and much to their dislike they discovered that Draco Malfoy had been deemed innocent and was attending the same school! They also saw many other students from Hogwarts.

"Welcome! My lovely ladies! I'm glad you made it safely to the Garden of Eleanor. I am Headmistress Elizabeth. I hope you will have a fun filled year! The only rule we have here is that you can't bring a boy into your room or go into theirs, or else you will be sent home immediately. Also in the garden there is a maze. If you stumble in there, you might not be able to get out, and it is filled with dangers, so it's forbidden! Soon you'll classes will start and you will see the boys from Knights of Merlin, and we do have some classes that are co-ed. Now, let the feast begin!"

After dinner they went to their rooms. Everyone had their own room with a four-post bed, and extravagant hangings. Their rooms were top quality and lavished and adorned with jewels and gold.

The girls settled in for their first night here.

They boy got the same talk as the girls did from their Headmaster John. Harry and Ron were too busy talking to their new friends Dave, Alex, and Richard, to listen. Gosh, they missed Hermione and Ginny already.

At least most of their classes were co-ed, or else they would die!

Hermione, Ginny and their new friends: Andrea, Diana, and Trish all walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom together laughing.

They sat down in the back, much to Hermione's distaste.

"So Hermione, you'll be seventeen tomorrow, I think that calls for a celebration!" Ginny squealed excitedly.

"So what do you think we should do girls?!" Diana continued energetically and glanced around making sure that the teacher wasn't paying attention to them, but still lecturing.

" I think this calls for a shopping spree, makeover, sleepover, I never, and truth or dare!" Trish whispered, then reached over Andrea and Ginny to hug Hermione, getting a reprimanding glance from the teacher.

As soon as class was over the girls rushed out of the room excitedly heading over to the quidditch pitch for their next class, which to their great pleasure was co-ed.

At one point Andrea had made an observation that sent the girls into fits of uncontrollable laughter, causing to lean on each other as they walked to the center of the pitch where the class was meeting. Hermione ended up tripping over Andrea's foot, and flying into a wall… or so she thought until it caught her. Glancing up Hermione froze but her friends kept laughing oblivious to it all.

"Y-y-you! Y-you're alive!" She exclaimed and launched herself at the boy hugging him fiercely like her life depended on it.

"You're alive," she whispered, disbelievingly reassuring herself, as tears flowed down her cheeks.

A/N: So do you guy know who the guy is? I bet you do!

------meh... long enough and I currently have a brain block... i'll prolly rewrite this bc it's confusing...

Chapter 5

Trial, Error, and Everything in Between

Harry's POV


End file.
